The Story of Duc
Duc was pale, skinny, and almost lifeless when first arrived at our shelter. His large sadden eyes were made larger in the sunken eye sockets. Just one look at Duc, you know he had endured and suffered much in his life. Indeed, he has! His father disappeared before he was born. His emotionally unstable mother abused and neglected him since birth and abandoned him in a ditch when he was barely 2 years old. He was 5 when rescued by the Friends of Hue Foundation. By that time, Duc was severely malnourished and had never seen the inside of a classroom.
Since Duc entered the FHF Children's Shelter and Vocational Center in Xuan Phu Ward of Hue City, he has been given special attention, support, and care by every staff member and his other 39 "siblings". Still for the first 6 months, Duc did not gain an ounce because he could neither eat meat nor fruit and could not drink milk, food which he had never been exposed to before. He often sat alone in a corner and rarely interacted with other children. Only in the last 3 months Duc has shown signs of improvement. Duc is now 6 and has gained 7 pounds. He now weighs at a promising 33 pounds, compared to a mere 26 pounds when he was first admitted to the shelter. He now interacts and plays with other children and seems to have more restful nights of sleep.
Since its inception in 2003, FHF’s Children Shelter has been home to 50 children who have been neglected or abandoned by their parents or lost their guardians through natural causes and disasters.
Your $1 donation provides 3 basic meals a day to a child! Another $1 supports a child’s education, vocational training, health care, and daily necessities.
The Friends of Hue Foundation is a non-profit organization. In addition to maintaining the Children’s Shelter, we also support a Vocational Training Center where members of the local community, including children, may learn basic English, sewing, computing, and handicraft skills. Our mission is to provide long-term assistance in health, education, and emergency relief to the rural communities of Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam. All U.S.-based staffs serve as unpaid volunteers.
With global inflation and the soaring cost of fuel and food, the financial impact in FHF’s Children Shelter is most obvious. The yearly cost of raising one child has risen from $300 per year in 2005 to more than $500 per year in 2008!
So if you cannot attend any of our events this year please choose to donate through FHF’s secure online donation portal
or send in your donation to:
Friends of Hue Foundation
P.O. Box 1823
San Jose, CA 95109
Who We Are
We are a 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profit, tax-exempt, non-governmental organization (NGO/INGO). The primary mission of the foundation is to provide assistance to impoverished people and victims of natural disasters in Thua Thien Hue province of Central Vietnam. * All staff and Board members of the Friends of Hue Foundation in the United States serve as unpaid volunteers. Federal Tax ID #77-0543081.
Why HUE?
Due to its rugged terrain and inhospitable climate, Hue has not been seen as an ideal place for large scale manufacturing and aggressive economic development. This results in less economic opportunities to its inhabitants producing more than its fair share of people living in poverty. Hanoi to the north and Saigon to the south are both political and economic capitals, respectively, and have also received the bulk of attention from NGOs/INGOs. Hue also falls short in this respect. Currently, FHF is the only officially registered, US-based INGO with a physical presence to provide services in Thua Thien Hue Province....[more]
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